Corduroy is a 1968 children’s book written and illustrated by Don Freeman, and published by Viking Press. Don Freeman said that he had an idea of writing a story taking place in a department store, in which a character wanders around after the doors close. He wanted the storyline to portray a difference between the luxury of such department store and the simple life most people live, at the same time highlighting basic values. The bear’s name was derived from another children’s book by Freeman, Corduroy, the Interior Decorator, which tells about a boy driving his parents crazy by painting on their apartment’s walls. The book was never published, but Freeman reused the boy’s name when writing Corduroy. The book tells the story of a teddy bear named Corduroy, displayed on a toy shelf in a department store.